Swing Gate
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 861
Likes: 366
From: NJ
This. One of the best books I ever read was "The Psychology of Everyday Things". Published in the late '80's, it's still a worthwhile read. Handedness matters, assertions to the contrary notwithstanding, and the current design as about as good as it gets if one is going to have a side-opening door. Toyota has thought the better of that in the next-gen, anyway, and that probably makes the most sense.
Ahh, no. List of left- & right-driving countries (worldstandards.eu)
Mark
Ahh, no. List of left- & right-driving countries (worldstandards.eu)
Mark
. Now it could be that most J150's are not sold in RHD countries - that would be consistent with the human factor argument for the driver flow, but it would also mean that the argument that Toyota didn't want to bother flipping the door was/is almost certainly wrong.
Last edited by CFAI; Jun 20, 2023 at 10:22 AM. Reason: Clean up Typos
Pole Position
Joined: Jan 2019
Posts: 2,683
Likes: 1,433
From: WA
Well lets think about what you just said and think about how you actually walk around the door. 4ft gets you to the end of the door, but doesn't get you clear of the door. So 5ft to get you to the end of the door with enough room not to shoulder check it, turn 180 degrees, and then another 5ft to get you back to the end of the tail gate. So more like 10ft plus a step or two to get around the door. Pretty easy to test this also, just use the door from the passenger side vs the drivers side and you can see how much easier it is.
Pole Position
Joined: Jan 2019
Posts: 2,683
Likes: 1,433
From: WA
The primary argument has been that Toyota didn't want to bother switching the pivot on the right swing door bc so relatively few were sold in LHD countries. That is, most of the sales (not most of the countries in the world, but most of where the Prado/J150 variants are sold) are in RHD countries (see Austria and Japan). Which would imply that opening from the right is better in RHD countries bc of the curb blocking. That didn't make sense to me bc Ford Bronco also opens to the right and is sold exclusively in LHD countries. But now arguing the swing placement is due to human factors that ease the driver's flow when interacting with the vehicle seem inconsistent with the Prado opening to the right - since symmetry of the argument would suggest that RHD countries should prefer Left swing doors - but the doors swing to the right on the Prado - so we are in a logical loop here . Now it could be that most J150's are not sold in RHD countries - that would be consistent with the human factor argument for the driver flow, but it would also mean that the argument that Toyota didn't want to bother flipping the door was/is almost certainly wrong.
. Now it could be that most J150's are not sold in RHD countries - that would be consistent with the human factor argument for the driver flow, but it would also mean that the argument that Toyota didn't want to bother flipping the door was/is almost certainly wrong.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Gojirra99
Car Chat
8
Aug 31, 2005 10:32 AM
